


Hooked

by NotALemon



Series: A Two-Man, One-Angel Operation (Supernatural Rewritten) [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Episode: s01e07 Hook Man, Established Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Gabriel (Supernatural) is Loki, Gabriel and Dean Winchester's Rivalry, Gabriel and Sam Winchester in Love, Gabriel's Questionable Past, M/M, Many References to Captain Hook, episode rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23860390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotALemon/pseuds/NotALemon
Summary: Sam shakes his head and tucks the paper with addresses in his coat. “I had ‘em check the FBI’s Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Does fitting Dad’s description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations.” As he speaks, his voice grows more and more annoyed at the fruitless attempts to find John.“Sam, I’m tellin’ ya, I don’t think Dad wants to be found.”Sam looks completely dejected.Gabriel leans against Sam’s side. “You’ll find your daddy sometime,” he reassures Sam, though his promises sound a little empty to both of them.
Relationships: Gabriel/Sam Winchester
Series: A Two-Man, One-Angel Operation (Supernatural Rewritten) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643980
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	Hooked

A man and a woman drive out to the woods to talk. It’s a great place to hang out, isn’t it?

-

Sam’s on a payphone at an outdoor cafe, talking quietly into the receiver. “Alright, thank you for your time,” he says into the phone, politely. He hands up and walks to one of the circular tables where Dean’s working on a laptop covered in the type of stickers that any teenage-aged boy would put on his skateboard and Gabriel’s drinking some sort of mocha monstrosity. 

“Your, uh, half-caf, double vanilla latte is gettin’ cold over here, Francis,” Dean says, not looking up from the laptop. 

“Bite me,” Sam replies. He sits down. Gabriel lays his hand on his thigh.

“I’d love to,” Gabriel says, suggestively moving his eyebrows. Sam rolls his eyes at Gabriel’s antics and suppresses a smile at them. He’s dating Gabriel for good reasons, though Dean may not grasp them.

Dean fake-gags. “Enough of that gross kinky shit in front of me.”

“Oh, _Dean_ , you haven’t even _seen_ gross kinky shit,” Gabriel says. “We’ve been-”

“So, anything?” Dean asks Sam, far louder than necessary.

Sam shakes his head and tucks the paper with addresses in his coat. “I had ‘em check the FBI’s Missing Persons Data Bank. No John Does fitting Dad’s description. I even ran his plates for traffic violations.” As he speaks, his voice grows more and more annoyed at the fruitless attempts to find John.

“Sam, I’m tellin’ ya, I don’t think Dad wants to be found.” 

Sam looks completely dejected. 

Gabriel leans against Sam’s side. “You’ll find your daddy sometime,” he reassures Sam, though his promises sound a little empty to both of them.

“Check this out,” Dean says, swiveling the laptop around to show Sam an online article from a newspaper. “It’s a news item out of Planes Courier, Ankeny, Iowa. It’s only about a hundred miles from here.”

“‘The mutilated body was found near the victim’s car, parked on 9 Mile Road’,” Sam reads, almost in a deadpan.

“Keep reading,” Dean says, picking up his glass of black coffee. 

“‘Authorities are unable to provide a realistic description of the killer. The sole eyewitness, whose name has been withheld, is quoted as saying the attacker was invisible’,” Sam continues. He looks away from the laptop screen to meet Gabriel’s eyes, almost suspiciously.

“Wasn’t me,” Gabriel says, innocent.

“Could be something interesting,” Dean suggests, not knowing what Sam and Gabriel are referencing and not particularly caring, at this moment. 

“Or it could be nothing at all,” Sam says, gesturing towards the laptop.” One freaked out witness who didn’t see anything? Doesn’t mean it’s the Invisible Man.”

“ _Unless_ ,” Gabriel says.

“But what if it is?” Dean asks. “Dad would check it out.”

-

Dean stops the Impala at a fraternity where the dead frat brother lived. The other frat brothers seem confused by the unfamiliar, well-kept classic car pulling up to the curb. Sam and Dean exit the car; Gabriel snaps out.

“One more time, why are we here?” Sam asks.

“Reliving our glory days?” Gabriel suggests. 

“Victim lived here,” Dean explains. He walks over to a couple of guys working on a car. “Nice wheels,” he says. He continues, at their strange looks. “We’re your fraternity brothers. From Ohio. We’re new in town. Transfers. Looking for a place to stay.” He grins his easygoing grin.

-

One of the frat brothers leads them through the building. Dean knocks on an opened door with a sign reading _Purple Man_ on it, watching a shirtless frat boy in bright yellow shorts paint himself a vivid shade of purple in front of an antique mirror. This is Murph.

“Who are you?” he asks, pausing in his painting.

“We’re your new roommates.” Dean smiles and walks over to the purple man. 

Murph holds out a brush and paint can. “Do me a favor? Get my back. Big game today.”

Dean points to Sam with his thumb. “ _He’s_ the artist. The things he can do with a brush.”

Sam takes the brush and can, looking horrified. Gabriel suppresses a smile at Dean’s antics.

Dean sits on a chair and picks up a magazine. “So,” he says, looking at the name on the magazine, “Murph. Is it true?” he asks, conspiratorial.

“What?” Murph asks.

“Well, heard through the grapevine that one’a your boys ‘round here got killed last week,” Gabriel says.

Murph’s face falls. He eyes Dean. “Yeah,” he says, looking back at himself in the mirror.

“What happened?” Sam asks, holding the paint can and brush a decent distance from himself as he awkwardly paints Murph purple.

“They’re saying some psycho with a knife. Maybe a drifter passing through,” Murph says. “Rich was a good guy,” he adds, solemnly.

“Rich-- he was with somebody?” Sam asks thoughtfully, dragging the paintbrush down Murph’s side.

“Not just _somebody_ ,” Murph says, looking at Sam over his shoulder. “ _Lori Sorensen_.”

“Who’s Lori Sorensen?” Dean asks Murph. He looks at Sam. “You missed a spot,” he says to him. “Just down there, on the back.”

Sam glares at his brother. Dean grins. Gabriel quietly smirks at them both.

“Lori’s a freshman,” Murph says, giving Dean a gossipy look. “She’s a local. Super hot. And get this: she’s a reverend’s daughter.” Murph cracks a grin at that thought, the scandal of it all.

Dean closes the magazine and leans towards Murph, interested. “You wouldn’t happen to know which church, would ya?” Dean asks.

-

The church has the same feeling that most do: that sort of silent holiness that comes with the smell of polished wood, the bright colors of stained glass, and people in their pressed Sunday clothes. As always, the Winchesters and Gabriel enter at the worst possible time, right when Rev. Sorensen is speaking to the congregation, the slamming of the door interrupting him. The congregation, silent at the interruption, stares at the three of them. Dean looks scandalized at the door’s audacity to be so loud.

“-- as a community, and as a family,” Rev. Sorensen continues. “The loss of a young person is particularly tragic. A life unlived is the saddest of passings.”

They sit down in the back. Lori stares at Sam, who smiles weakly at her.

“So please, let us pray. For peace, for guidance, and for the power to protect our children.”

With that, the congregation bows their heads, save for Dean. Gabriel reaches over the barrier of Sam and jabs Dean between his ribs.

“This is my _daddy’s_ house,” Gabriel hisses, though he isn’t bowing his head himself. Dean mutters about _friggin’ angels_ beneath his breath and looks to the floor.

-

Lori’s talking to one of her friends, a girl with tightly-coiled hair and dark skin, about plans tonight. 

“Okay,” her friend says. She tugs Lori before she leaves.

The Winchesters and Gabriel walk up to Lori.

“Are you Lori?” Sam asks, softly.

“Yeah,” Lori says. She clasps her arms in front of her, delicate and gentle. She’s dressed the way you expect a reverend’s daughter to dress: modestly, a little like Martha Stuart. There’s kindness radiating from her.

“My name is Sam. This is my boyfriend, Gabriel, and my brother, Dean.”

Dean waves. “Hi.”

Gabriel grins. “Just transferred here and everything.”

“I saw you inside,” Lori comments.

“We don’t wanna bother you,” Sam says. “We just heard about what happened and--”

“We wanted to say how sorry we were,” Dean continues.

“I know what you’re goin’ through,” Gabriel says. “I--I lost one of my brothers, once. It’s something you’re never gonna forget. Ever.” He swallows.

Lori nods. Her father, Rev. Sorensen, in his long and flowing green robes, walks up to them. “Dad um, this is Sam and Dean and Gabriel. They’re new students.”

Dean shakes Sorensen’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. I must say, that was an inspiring sermon.”

“Thank you very much,” Rev. Sorensen says, all polite charm. He, too, fits into his niche: kindly-looking and a little plain, even in his green robes. “It’s so nice to find young people who are open to the Lord’s message.” He looks at the three, then at his daughter.

Dean chuckles. “Listen, uh, we’re new in town, actually.” He leads Rev. Sorensen away from Sam and Gabriel. “And, uh, we were looking for a, um, a church group.”

Sam and Gabriel begin walking off with Lori in another direction. “Tell me, Lori,” Sam says. “What are the police saying?”

“Well, they don’t have a lot to go on,” Lori says slowly. “I think they blame me for that.”

“What d’you mean by that?” Gabriel says.

“My story,” Lori says, glancing at them. “I was so scared. I guess I was _seeing things_.” She speaks with the slow, doubtful tones of someone who is repeating something they were told instead of something they truly believe.

They stop walking. 

“Just ‘cuz you saw something impossible doesn’t mean what you saw wasn’t real,” Gabriel says.

Lori looks at him, almost amazed.

-

After a while, all the libraries they visit seem to blend together, the smell of books and muffled chatter ever-present. The three men walk through an aisleway, passing rows and rows filled with books.

“Do you guys believe her?” Dean asks.

“I do,” Sam says.

“Yeah,” Gabriel says.

“Yeah, I think she’s hot, too,” Dean says.

“No, man, there’s something in her eyes,” Sam says, convinced.

Dean pivots, leading them down one of the aisles of books.

“Oh, _this_ is the cherry,” Gabriel says. “She heard scratching on the roof. The body was upside-down over the car, just danglin’.” He shoves his hands in his pockets.

Dean stops in the middle of the aisle. “Wait, _suspended_?” Dean asks, hands extended in front of him. “That sounds like the--”

“Yeah, I know, the Hook Man legend,” Sam says.

“That’s one of the most famous urban legends ever,” Dean says. “You don’t think that we’re dealing with _the_ Hook Man.”

Gabriel shrugs. “See, every legend’s got a source-- you know, a place where it began--”

“I know what _source_ means,” Dean argues.

“-- and who’s to say it didn’t start here?” Gabriel cocks his head to the side. “I know all about legends and myths, Dean.”

“Yeah, but what about the phantom scratches and the tire punctures and the, oh, I don’t know, _invisible killer_?” Dean’s more aggressive with Gabriel suggesting it than he would be if Sam had been the one doing it. 

“Well, maybe the Hook Man isn’t a man at all,” Sam suggests, calmly and quietly, a voice made for a library. “What if it’s some kind of spirit?”

They take a table in the library, the librarian placing a few dusty old boxes in front of the three of them. “Here you go,” she announces. “Arrest records going back to 1851.”

Dean blows dust off a box, coughing. “Thanks,” he says.

“Okay,” the librarian says, unaffected but polite, as she walks away.

“So this is how the two of you spent four good years of your life, huh?” Dean asks, flipping open the top of one of the cardboard boxes.

“Four years is nothing,” Gabriel dismisses.

“Welcome to higher education,” Sam says, pulling one of the boxes in front of himself.

They begin reading. The research might be one of the most gruelling parts of the job.

-

Hours later, they’re still sifting through the papers. Sam’s standing at a bookshelf of Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, short enough for him to be able to comfortably rest the records on the top and stand while reading. He’s removed his Carhart and rolled up his sleeves. Gabriel stands by his side, a sucker stick poking from his mouth, reading alongside him.

“Hey, check this out,” Sam says. Dean rises from the table and joins them. “1862. A preacher named Jacob Karns was arrested for murder. Looks like he was so angry about the red light district in town that one night he killed thirteen prostitutes. Uh, right here: ‘some of the deceased were found in their beds, sheets soaked with blood. Others suspended upside down from the limbs of trees as a warning against sins of the flesh.’” Sam raises his eyebrows at the article.

Gabriel pulls a loose leaf paper, paper yellowed and ink grayed with time, from behind the article Sam’s reading. “How about this, boys? Looks like the preacher might’ve known Peter Pan and his Lost Boys. See Captain Hook right here?” He points at the hook itself, pictured on the old paper.

“Look where this all happened,” Sam says, pointing to another page.

“9 Mile Road,” Dean says, grinning up at Sam.

“Same place where the frat boy was killed,” Sam confirms. He casts his own smile towards Gabriel and reaches out for his hand on the tabletop.

“Nice job, Doctors Spengler and Stantz,” Dean says, impressed at both of them. “Let’s check it out.”

Sam gathers up the research materials before they leave.

-

A woman enters her sorority house and walks into her room to find her roommate asleep in the dark. It’s a nice room. Wouldn’t it be nice to rest in there for a while?

-

The Winchesters and Gabriel drive to 9 Mile Road in the Impala. Dean stops the car and goes to the trunk, retrieving a rifle he hands to Sam. 

“Here you go,” Dean says.

“If it is a spirit, buckshot won’t do much good,” Sam informs him dryly, inspecting the rifle.

“Yeah, rock salt.” 

“Salt bein’ a spirit deterrent,” Gabriel says, impressed. “Not too bad, Dean.”

Dean takes a coil of rope from the trunk and shuts it, ignoring Gabriel’s compliment. “Yeah. It won’t kill ‘em, but it’ll slow ‘em down.” Dean slings a bag over his shoulder.

They walk to the treeline.

“Smart,” Gabriel says. “So, did you and your daddy think of this, or--?”

“I’ve been tellin’ you. You don’t have to be a college graduate to be a genius.” Dean stops walking when he hears noises in the trees.

Sam raises his gun, looking around.

“Over there,” Dean whispers. “Over there.” 

Sam aims the gun and cocks it with the skill of someone who’s done this before. A dark figure emerges from behind the cover of the trees. 

“ _Shit_ ,” Gabriel mutters. 

“Put the gun down now! Now!” the Sheriff commands. The Winchesters brothers react dutifully, a little shocked. “Put your hands behind your head.”

“Wait wait wait wait, okay, okay!” Dean replies.

“Now get down on your knees. Come on, do it!”

They all kneel. 

“Now get down on your bellies. Come on, do it!”

“He had the gun!” Dean protests quietly, but lays down regardless.

-

The Winchesters and Gabriel leave the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department, Dean beaming “Saved your ass!” Dean announces, self-assured. “Talked the sheriff down to a fine. Dude, I am Matlock.”

“Can you reference anything made _before_ the 1990s, or is it physically impossible?” Gabriel asks.

“Shut up, feathers,” Dean snaps. “I just saved your boyfriend’s ass, no thanks to you.”

Gabriel shrugs. “Best not to meddle in human’s affairs, right?”

“Right,” Dean mutters, disbelieving.

“But how?” Sam asks.

“I told him you were a dumbass pledge and that we were hazing you,” Dean continues.

“What about the shotgun?” Sam asks. He reaches out to take Gabriel’s hand. Gabriel allows him to, swinging their connected hands. 

“I said that you were hunting ghosts and the spirits were repelled by rock salt. You know, typical Hell Week prank.”

“And he _believed_ you?” Sam asks.

“Well, you _look_ like a dumbass pledge,” Dean reasons. Sam looks offended. They stop at the Impala in time to see several sheriffs run from the building and fly into their cars, speeding from the station urgently.

-

Outside of a sorority building, Lori is sitting in the back of a parked ambulance, wrapped up in a dull-colored blanket. The Impala drives past, the Winchesters and Gabriel looking at her through the police tape.

Dean parks the Impala on a nearby street. They sneak around the back of Lori’s sorority building.

“Why would the Hook Man come here?” Sam asks, quietly. “This is a long way from 9 Mile Road.”

“Maybe he’s not haunting the scene of his crime. Maybe it’s about something else,” Dean suggests.

A couple sorority girls exited the side entrance of the building, not noticing the men, who lean against the house’s side and some bushes to hide.

“Dude, sorority girls!” Dean says, giddy as a child with candy. “Think we’ll see a naked pillow fight?” He turns around to Sam, only to find him attempting to climb the house’s balcony. Dean helps his brother up, then climbs up himself. Once they’ve made it up to the balcony, the two of them sneak into Lori’s easily-opened bedroom window. Dean climbs through the window and falls on top of Sam. “Oh, sorry!”

“Be quiet,” Sam hushes.

“You be quiet!” Dean argues.

“You be quiet!” Sam argues back.

“You boys _both_ need to be quiet,” Gabriel hisses. 

They’re hidden in Lori’s walk-in closet. A sheriff enters the bedroom and walks around. They wait until Sam cracks open the door and watches him exit the bedroom, waiting until his footsteps get down the stairs, then opens the closet door completely. 

“You guys used to that?” Dean asks, jokingly.

“I’ve never really been in the closet, Dean-O,” Gabriel says. 

“Shut up, Dean,” Sam hisses. 

They exit the closet. Once they’re in Lori’s bedroom, they stop, reading a message written in blood on the wall. The room is covered in yellow police tape and there’s blood on the floor, but otherwise, it’s a typical sorority room.

“‘Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light?’,” Sam reads. “That’s right out of the legend.”

“Yeah, that’s classic Hook Man all right,” Dean confirms. He taps his nose “It’s definitely a spirit.”

“Yeah, I’ve never smelled ozone this strong before. Except--” Sam glances over at Gabriel.

“Don’t get me involved in your weird sex life.” Dean moves to the window, looking out the blinds just in case.

“How would _you_ know it’s even a sex thing?” Gabriel quips. “I can fly, Dean. Guess what the sky smells like.” 

Dean flips Gabriel off.

“Hey, come here,” Sam says. He points to a cross symbol beneath the writing. Dean and Gabriel walk over to him to look at it. “Does that look familiar to you?”

-

Sam lays the paper they found during their research on top of the drunk of the Impala, pointing out the cross symbol on the hook. He, Dean, and Gabriel pour over the pictures.

“Looks like Captain Hook’s our spirit,” Gabriel says. 

“All right, let’s find the dude’s grave, salt and burn the bones, and put him down,” Dean says.

“‘After execution, Jacob Karns was laid to rest in an Old North Cemetery. In an unmarked grave’,” Sam reads off. He and Dean share an annoyed look, having dealt with enough unmarked graves that they know the amount of work involved.

“Super,” Dean mutters, sliding off to the driver’s side.

“Okay,” Sam says, following suit to the passenger’s side. “So we know it’s Jacob Karns. But we still don’t know where he’ll manifest next. Or why.”

Dean delicately removes a slip of paper from beneath one of the Impala’s windshield wipers and looks at it, almost idly, while Sam talks. Another parking ticket that’ll never get paid. “I’ll take a wild guess about why,” Dean says. “I think your little friend Lori has something to do with this.” He opens the door.

They get into the car. 

-

Dean’s managed to talk them into going to a college party, the lights turned down, the house crammed full of people, the music far too loud.

Dean walks towards Sam and Gabriel, grinning. While he’s been off drinking and fraternizing with women, Sam and Gabriel have been making out a little, quietly enjoying themselves, with Sam being too aware of the situation to do much of anything to properly enjoy the situation.

“Hey,” Sam says to Dean, trying not to make it obvious that he and Gabriel have been doing coupley things.

“Man, you’ve been holding out on me,” Dean says. “This college thing is awesome!” He smiles and winks at a passing girl. 

“This wasn’t really my experience,” Sam says.

“Lemme guess,” Dean says. “Libraries, studying, straight A’s?”

Sam nods.

“What a geek,” Dean comments. “Alright, you do your homework?”

“It’s been bugging him _all day_ ,” Gabriel says. They begin walking from the party.

“So, how is the Hook Man tied up with Lori? So I think I came up with something.” He unravels a seemingly never-ending piece of paper, out of place in the environment of the party, and hands it to Dean.

“1932. Clergyman arrested for murder. 1967. Seminarian held in hippie rampage.”

“There’s a pattern here,” Sam says, pointing at the paper as they navigate through the house.

“Both times, the suspect? A man of religion. And he _openly_ preached against immorality, of course. _And then_ was wanted for killings he crossed his heart and swore to die that were executed by some invisible force,” Gabriel says, stopping at the door.

“Killings carried out-- get this-- with a _sharp instrument_ ,” Sam finishes.

“Okay, you guys are really startin’ to scare me when you finish each other’s sentences,” Dean says.

“Four years of dating does that to you,” Gabriel says, casually.

 _Four years_ , Dean mouths to Sam, amazed. Dean’s longest relationship-- let’s just say, it didn’t last four years. Not even _close_.

Sam shakes his head at Dean. “Anyway, a man of religion? Who openly preaches against immorality?” he continues, on-topic again.

Dean’s eyes widen and he nods in understanding. 

“Except, maybe this time, instead of saving the whole town, he’s just trying to save his only daughter.”

“Reverend Sorensen,” Dean says. “You think he’s summoning the spirit?”

“Maybe,” Sam says, eyes flicking off to the side.

“Poltergeists can haunt people instead of places, you know,” Gabriel says.

“Yeah, the spirit latches onto the reverend’s repressed emotions, feeds off them, yeah, okay,” Dean says, looking off to the side.

“Without the reverend ever even knowing it,” Sam adds.

“Either way, you two should probably keep an eye on Lori tonight,” Dean says.

Sam nods. “What about you?” he asks.

Dean looks at an attractive blonde woman in a short red dress smiling at him by the pool table, leaning over in a way that shows off her cleavage, and sighs. “I’m gonna go see if I can find that unmarked grave,” he says, reluctantly. He looks at the blonde woman again, then shakes his head in disappointment, and walks off.

-

Alone in the darkness of the night with only the chirping of crickets to keep him company and the nighttime chill around him, Dean concludes that Old North Cemetery is a place that could _definitely_ be haunted. Briefly, he wonders if he’ll get attacked by a ghost, before he reminds himself that it’s a stupid thing to think about. He looks around with a flashlight, lighting up headstone after headstones until he finds one with the same cross symbol engraved on it.

“Here we go,” he says. 

-

Sam and Gabriel stand in the garden of Rev. Sorensen’s house, watching Lori and Rev. Sorensen arguing through the window.

“Reminds me of home,” Gabriel says, semi-wistfully, semi-annoyed. 

“Yeah,” Sam agrees, quietly.

-

Dean’s been digging at the unmarked grave for long enough that he can finally see the wood of a casket, gray t-shirt stained with sweat and dirt.. “That’s it,” he mutters to himself. “Next time, I get to watch the cute girl’s house.” He breaks through the wood of the casket with the shovel, spilling dirt on Jacob Karns’ remains. “Hello, preacher,” he says, throwing the shovel aside.

-

Rev. Sorensen turns out the light and leaves the room. Lori comes outside, standing next to Sam and Gabriel on the bench. They have to crowd close together, even with Gabriel subtly creating more bench to sit on.

“I saw you guys from upstairs. What are you doing here?” Lori asks.

“We’re keepin’ an eye on the place,” Gabriel says.

Lori looks at both of them.

“We were worried,” Sam says, quietly.

“About me?”

“Yeah,” Sam says. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s cool. I already called the cops.” Lori smiles. She sits on the bench.

Gabriel laughs, and so does Sam.

“No, seriously. I think you guys are sweet. Which is probably why you should run away from me as fast as you can.”

“Why would you say that?” Sam asks.

Lori stares at the ground. “It’s like I’m cursed or something,” she says. She looks at the men. “People around me keep dying.”

“I think I know that feeling,” Gabriel says.

-

Dean removes a few items from his bag. Holding the flashlight beneath his arm, he pours a liberal amount of salt onto the bones and covers it in lighter fluid, then strikes a match. “Goodbye, preacher,” Dean says. He throws the match into the grave, watching the flames engulf the bones with a sort of reverent silence.

-

“No one will talk to me anymore,” Lori says tearfully. “Except you two. The sheriff thinks _I’m_ a suspect. And you know what my dad will say?” she asks, growing more and more bitter the longer she speaks. This is pain that comes from guilt and self-blame, the type of pain Sam and Gabriel know too well. “Pray. Have faith,” she says, almost mockingly. “What does _he_ know about faith?”

“We heard you guys fighting before,” Sam says, apologetic about eavesdropping.

“He’s seeing a woman,” Lori says. “A _married_ woman. I just found out.” Lori glances at the ground with contempt before looking back at Sam and Gabriel. “She comes to our church with her husband. I know her kids. And he talks to me about religion? About morality?” Lori is angry, now, about her father’s hypocrisy, her words pointed. “It’s like, on one hand, you know, just do what you want and be happy.” The longer Lori speaks, the more tired her voice gets, and the anger starts getting watery with tears. “But he taught me-- _raised me_ \-- to believe that if you do something wrong you will get punished. I just don’t know what to think anymore.” 

Lori rubs at her eyes, then hugs Sam. Sam hugs her back, hesitantly. Then Lori leans in, as if to kiss him, but Sam pulls away.

“No,” he says, quietly, refusing to look into her eyes.

Lori rubs at her eyes again. “I’m-- I’m sorry.” She looks over at Gabriel, who’s watching her expressionlessly, and crumples. “I’m just as bad as my dad is,” she whispers.

“Lori, no,” Sam says, pleadingly. “You’re not. You’re not a bad person.”

“I’m sorry,” she repeats, shaking her head.

Rev. Sorensen comes outside, standing a little outside of the doorway. “Lori?” he says, voice stern. “Come inside, please.”

“I’ll come in when I’m ready,” Lori says, angrily. 

The Hook Man appears like a nightmare behind Rev. Sorensen, jabbing his hook into his shoulder. The reverend screams as he is pierced. The Hook Man slams the door shut as he drags the reverend in further. 

Sam charges into the house, gun drawn, Gabriel by his side. 

Rev. Sorensen screams from upstairs. “No! No, please! No!” he yells.

Sam and Gabriel charge up the wooden stairs, running into the bedroom and bursting open the door. The Hook Man rests on top of Rev. Sorensen, preparing to put his hook into the reverend once more.

“No! No! No!” the reverend screams.

Sam shoots the Hook Man in his side. He, looking more like a shadow than a being, turns to Sam, who shoots him a second time. The Hook Man explodes into dust, the gunshot shattering through the bedroom window.

“Dad! Dad!” Lori bursts in through the door and kneels beside her father, crying. “Okay. It’s okay, Dad, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

-

In the hospital, Rev. Sorensen is mummified by medical equipment in a hospital bed with Lori standing by his side, devastated. Sam and Gabriel talk to the sheriff. 

“We were just talking,” Sam says, staring into the room through the glass. “Then Lori’s dad came out. And then he appeared.”

“A big man?” the sheriff asks. “Carrying a weapon, some kind of… hook?”

“Yes, sir,” Sam replies, not looking at him.

“Ever seen him before?”

“No, sir.” Sam turns towards the sheriff.

“Son, it seems every time I turn around, I’m seeing both of you. I suggest the two of you try to stay out of trouble,” the sheriff suggests.

Sam nods. “Yes, sir.”

Dean and two sheriffs walk down the hospital hall. “No, it’s alright, I’m with them. They’re my brothers,” he informs them. “Hey! Brother!” Dean yells at Sam and Gabriel.

The two of them and the sheriff turn to see Dean, who smiles brightly and waves at them.

“Let him through,” the sheriff commands. The other two allow Dean through the hallway.

“Thanks,” Dean says. He walks towards Sam and Gabriel, who meet him in the middle. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah,” Sam says.

“More or less,” Gabriel agrees.

“What the hell happened?” Dean asks.

“Hook Man,” Sam replies, quietly but aggressively.

“You saw him?” Dean asks.

“Damn straight we did,” Gabriel says. 

Sam swings out in front of Dean and stops in the hallway. “Why didn’t you torch the bones?” Sam asks.

“What are you talking about? I did,” Dean says. “You sure it’s the spirit of Jacob Karns?”

“Sure as hell looked like Captain Hook,” Gabriel mutters. 

“And that’s not all,” Sam adds. “I don’t think the spirit is latching on to the reverend.”

“Well, yeah, the guy wouldn’t send the Hook Man after himself,” Dan says. He looks over his shoulder, back at the hospital room with the Sorensons. 

“I think it’s latching onto Lori,” Sam says, putting words to what they’ve all been thinking.

“Last night, she found out daddy’s been screwin’ a married woman,” Gabriel explains.

“So what?” Dean asks, nonchalant. 

“So, she’s upset about it,” Sam says, beginning to pick up steam. “She’s upset about the immorality of it.”

“Said daddy raised her to believe if you do somethin’ bad… well, you get punished. You know, ‘if anyone sins and does what is forbidden in the Lord’s command, they are guilty and will be held responsible’, and whatnot.”

“Is that a real Bible verse?” Dean asks.

“Dean, focus,” Sam says.

“Okay, okay,” Dean says. “Okay, so she’s conflicted. And the spirit of Preacher Karns is latching on to the repressed emotions and maybe he’s doing the punishing for her, huh?”

“Right,” Sam says. “Rich comes on too strong, Taylor tries to make her into a party girl, Dad has an affair.”

“Remind me not to piss this girl off,” Dean mutters. He glances at a doctor in a white coat walking by, falling quiet as he walks.

Sam slouches a little and glances at Gabriel.

“But I burned those bones, I buried them in salt, why didn’t that stop him?” Dean asks.

“Maybe you missed a bone or somethin’,” Gabriel suggests. “I mean, you are only human.”

Dean gives Gabriel a glare. “No,” he says, turning towards the external windows of the hospital. “I burned everything in that coffin.”

“What, even the hook?’ Gabriel asks.

“The hook?” Dean asks, looking at Gabriel.

“Well, it _was_ the murder weapon, and in a way, it was part of him,” Sam says.

Dean turns slowly so his back is to the window. “So, like the bones, the hook is a source of his power,” Dean says, in a moment of realization.

“So if we find the hook…”

“We stop Captain Hook,” Gabriel finishes. 

-

In the library, Sam and Dean look through more papers, Gabriel glancing over their shoulders. 

“Here’s something, I think,” Dean says, smacking his lips a couple times. “Log book, Iowa State Penitentiary. ‘Karns, Jacob. Personal affects: disposition thereof’,” he reads.

“Does it mention the hook?” Sam asks.

“Yeah, maybe,” Dean says. “‘Upon execution, all earthly items shall be remanded to the prisoner’s house of worship, St. Barnabas Church’,” Dean reads. He pauses and looks off into the distance, thinking. 

“Isn’t that where Lori’s father preaches?” Sam asks.

“Yeah,” Dean replies, looking at his brother.

“Where Lori lives?” Sam asks.

“Maybe that’s why the Hook Man has been haunting reverends and reverends’ daughters for the past two hundred years,” Dean says.

“I imagine a big-ass, bloodstained, silver-handled hook in a church is sorta an eyesore. You’d think someone would’ve seen it in the church or house and said, ‘huh, that’s a weird conversation piece you got there’, right?” Gabriel asks.

“Check in the church records,” Dean suggests. He caps his pen and stands from his chair.

It’s a while of research and another seating rearrangement before they get anywhere close, Dean sitting in a chair a decent ways away from Sam and Gabriel. 

“‘St. Barnabas donations, 1862. Received silver-handled hook from state penitentiary’,” Sam reads from an old book. He taps the next word. “‘Reforged’.” He sighs deeply. “They melted it down. Made it into something else.”

Dean closes his book, annoyed.

-

Dean parks the Impala by St. Barnabas church and exits. It’s dark as the night before, fog rolling in from one of the sides, just as eerie and off-putting as the graveyard, save all the graves. Another horror movie location. “Alright, we can’t take any chances. Anything silver goes in the fire,” Dean says.

“I agree,” Sam says. “So, Lori’s still in the hospital. We’ll have to break in.”

“Alright, take your pick,” Dean says.

“We’re takin’ the house,” Gabriel announces.

“Okay,” Dean agrees, with a smile.

Sam and Gabriel make their way towards the house.

“Hey,” Dean says. He waits until they turn around. “Stay outta her underwear drawer.”

Gabriel flips him off.

-

In the basement of St. Barnabas Church, Dean throws everything silver into the fire with a startling amount of casualty, the metal glinting in the flames. Sam and Gabriel come downstairs with a bag of things they’d taken from Lori’s house.

“We got everything that even looked silver,” Sam announces.

“Better safe than sorry.” Dean takes the back and begins throwing everything in with metallic clatters against the metal woodstove.

Footsteps sound from above them, the ceiling creaking. 

“Move, move,” Dean says. He takes his gun and follows Sam and Gabriel upstairs.

Upstairs, Lori sits in a pew, completely alone, crying. Dean lowers his gun, going back downstairs to melt the silver. Sam and Gabriel walk over to Lori, slowly and silently.

“Lori?” Sam asks, kneeling down to her level.

Lori jumps at the sound of his voice. “What are you doing here?”

“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asks.

“I’ve been trying to understand what’s happening,” Lori says. “ _Why_? Now I know, so I’m praying for forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness for what?” Sam asks.

“Don't you see?” Lori looks at them, eyes shining with tears the same way the melting silver shines in the fire. “I’m to blame for all this. I’ve read in the Bible about avenging angels.”

“Lori, trust me,” Gabriel says. “This guy? Not an angel. Not even _close_.”

“I was so angry at my father,” Lori continues, shaking her head. “Part of me wanted him punished. And then he came and he punished him.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sam says.

“Yes, it is,” Lori insists. “I don’t know how, but it is.”

The Hook Man appears in the back of the church for a moment before disappearing, like some sort of smoky glitch in the Matrix. 

“I killed Rich. Taylor, too. I nearly killed my father.”

“Lori…,” Sam says.

“I can see it now. They didn’t deserve to be punished.” Lori sniffs. “I do.”

There’s a clatter in the front of the church. All the candles in the altar blow out.

“Come on,” Sam urges. “We gotta go.” He leads Lori away from the pew and opens the basement door, only to find the Hook Man standing behind it, pushing his hook through the door as Sam slams it close. “Go!” he yells at Lori. 

Lori runs down the aisle, into a back room. Gabriel takes Sam’s hand and drags him down the aisle as well. The Hook Man follows behind, smashing the glass of another door with his hook. He swings at Sam and Gabriel a couple times, missing each time. He hooks Sam’s forearm once. He yells in pain. 

An invisible force grabs Lori and drags her back across the room. Sam and Gabriel run over to her.

“Come on,” Sam urges. “You okay?”

The Hook Man comes behind Sam. Gabriel zaps them away before the Hook Man harms Sam, reappearing behind the Hook Man as he stands over Lori.

Dean enters, gun raised. “Gabe, move!” 

Gabriel zaps him and Sam away once more. Dean shoots one bullet at the Hook Man, who disappears to dust once more. The bullet hits the wall.

“I thought we got all the silver,” Sam says.

“So did I,” Dean agrees.

“Then why is he still here?” Sam asks.

“Well, maybe we missed somethin’!” Dean starts looking around, frantically.

Gabriel notices a cross necklace around Lori’s neck. “Lori, where’d you get that nice chain of yours?”

“My father gave it to me,” Lori says, panicked.

“Where’d your dad get it?” Dean asks.

“He said it was a church heirloom, he gave it to me when I started school,” Lori explains.

“Is it silver?!” Sam asks.

“Yes!” Lori replies, harried.

Sam rips the chain off her neck.

The Hook Man, invisible in the hallway, scratches his hook along the wall. 

Dean turns to look at it. “Sam!” He throws the rifle and rock salt to Sam, who catches it in his good hand. Sam tosses the necklace to Dean. Dean runs downstairs again.

Sam aims the gun at the scratch that’s continuing on the wall and shoots, reloading the fun with rock salt.

-

Dean throws Lori’s necklace into the fire.

-

Gabriel snaps, the Hook Man visible once more. He stands in front of Sam and Lori, the shadows of his wings spread behind him, eyes gleaming with angelic power as the Hook Man continues, unfazed.

-

The cross pendant breaks from its chain and melts in the fire.

-

The Hook Man stops, hook in the air. It begins melting, dripping onto the church floor as the rest of his body catches fire like paper. He chars to ashes on the floor.

Dean rushes upstairs, seeing the Hook Man is nowhere to be seen, and gives the others a knowing look.

-

In the bright light of the Iowa day, sheriffs walk around St. Barnabas Church. An ambulance is parked outside.

“And you saw him, too?” the sheriff asks, sounding exasperated. “The man with the hook?”

“Yes, I told you, we all saw him,” Dean says. “We fought him off and then he ran.”

“And that’s all?” the Sheriff asks.

“Yeah, that’s all,” Dean confirms, nodding.

“Listen,” the sheriff says, pointing at Dean. “You and your-- your _brothers_ \--”

“Oh, don’t worry, we’re leaving town,” Dean says. He walks over to the Impala.

-

Lori sits in the back of the ambulance, wrapped in another blanket. 

“You gonna be okay?” Sam asks. His forearm is healed, thanks to Gabriel’s archangel healing abilities, but his sleeve’s cut off above the elbow. 

“Yeah,” she says. “I still don’t know what happened,” she says. “But I do know that you guys saved my life. My father’s, too. Thank you.” 

Sam nods and smiles. 

Dean watches them through the Impala’s side mirror.

“No problem,” Sam says.

“Seriously,” Gabriel says. “This is what we do.”

They walk away, getting into the Impala.

“We could stay,” Dean suggests, eyeing both of them. 

Sam shakes his head. Dean looks at Lori through the mirror, shakes his head, and drives off.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I've been really depressed lately because of the 'rona and the only time I leave the house is to drive my brother around and go to the nearest Starbucks to momentarily drown my woes with matcha and then have a bad reaction to the caffeine.
> 
> I'm super excited for the next few fics, because I feel like the dynamics just keep getting better. I love how all these characters play off each other. Definitely one of my favorite parts of this series.
> 
> I'm curious-- how're y'all enjoying the series, so far? Is there any episode rewrite you're really looking forward to?


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